Paper towel dispensers are either dispensers that dispense individual paper towels from a roll, and dispensers that dispense paper towels from a folded stack of paper towels. The latter type of dispensers typically include a cabinet that is mounted on a wall at a height that allows dispensing of paper towels to a person standing next to the cabinet. One or more stacks of paper towels are placed in the cabinet such that the one or more stacks are oriented vertically inside the cabinet. An opening at the bottom of the cabinet provides access to a paper towel at the bottom of the stack. Paper towels can be manually pulled out of the stack through the opening. The paper towels are folded on top of the each other to form the stack. The fold pattern can be a single-fold, C-fold or multi-fold. The opening is typically an oblong slot having a large center area in order to accommodate various fold configurations and sizes of paper towels.
The above-described paper towel dispensers have several problems. When the stack of paper towels is high, the weight of the stack may cause a bloating of the paper towels at the opening such that a cluster of paper towels are exposed. The bloating may also be caused when the bottom opening does not correspond with the size of paper towels being dispensed from the cabinet. The bloating may allow a user to pull out several paper towels at a time and waste paper towels. The bloating may also cause tearing of paper towels when a user is attempting to pull single paper towels from the stack. In addition to the noted functional disadvantages, bloating of paper towels at the opening is not aesthetically pleasing. When the stack of paper towels is low or almost depleted, the remaining paper towels in the stack may fall out of the opening. When the stack of paper towels is high, the paper towels can tear when being pulled out of the opening because of the friction between the paper towel being pulled out and the bottom of the cabinet at the opening. The tearing of the paper towels is particularly problematic when recycled paper towels are used or when a user's hands are wet.
In view of the above, there is a need for a paper towel cabinet or a module for existing paper towel cabinets that can remedy one or more of the above described problems associated with current paper towel dispensers.